Mary Ruth Long - Movement Specialist

Tennessee native, Mary Ruth Long, began her full-time dance training at the School of Nashville Ballet in 2007. During this period, she appeared in several works by Paul Vasterling, Nicole Koenig, and Banning Bouldin. Mary Ruth enhanced her dance education through various summer programs, such as Nashville Ballet, American Dance Festival, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Movement Invention Project. 

Her professional journey began in 2012 when she started working with Nashville-based companies New Dialect and FALL, an aerial contemporary dance company. Mary Ruth participated in FALL until 2014. Her tenure in New Dialect was marked by collaborations with artists such as Ana Maria Lucaciu, Navarra Novy-Williams, Peter Chu, Dor Mamalia, Alex Ketley, Yin Yue, and many others. She also had the privilege of performing in works by Bryan Arias, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Joy Davis, IdanSharabi, David Flores, James Barrett, and Banning Bouldin. In addition to dancing, she took significant roles in managing and teaching New Dialect’s educational programs, such as Girl Power, Summer and Winter intensives, and a workshop series at Belmont University.

In 2019, Mary Ruth transitioned from performing with the company to becoming the rehearsal assistant for Banning Boulding and on-hand wardrobe personnel. That summer she also invested time into enhancing her teaching skills. She became a member Chicago National Association of Dance Masters and achieved a teaching certification from Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT). 

Since fall of 2016, Mary Ruth has been teaching full time at Columbia Dance Academy. Additionally, she has also been contributing her expertise to local high school marching bands since fall of 2019. She is currently the Movement Specialist for Station Camp High School marching band, where she integrates the expressive power of theater and dance into the marching arts.